Malayan butterflies

I was recently given this book — Common Malayan Butterflies by R. Morell — as a gift. It is a fond memento of a time that is now starting to seem a long time ago, because more than 50 years ago butterfly collecting was my first proper hobby. At the time, I was living with my family in Singapore. A friend of the family had a copy of this book and I must have been captivated by the colour illustrations, so thanks to my kind parents it seemed no time at all before I had my own personal copy. For a boy of seven this was a grown-up book with some words that I didn’t understand (and even some Latin), but it was accessible enough and before too long I knew about the biology of butterflies and caterpillars. More important, I could readily identify most of the species I saw flying around my world.

It might seem totally environmentally-unfriendly today, but in the late 1960s butterfly collecting in what we called the Far East was considered to be acceptable, albeit a little eccentric! A number of people I knew were keen, including friends my own age. I suspect that the Singapore of those days was less densely populated and developed than it is now, so there were more green spaces to attract the insects.

As a family, we travelled quite widely around Singapore and Malaysia by car, so on longer trips invariably my butterfly net, supply of specimen envelopes (kitchen grease-proof paper!) and mounting board(s) came with us. I kept no written records of "finds" whatsoever, so it was all by memory. If there was a butterfly that I didn't think I already had in the collection, I would attempt to catch it. Once caught, at that age I was quite happy to dispatch it with a quick pinch in the head/thorax region so it didn't suffer. Then it was into the specimen envelope until I had the opportunity to set out the insect on the mounting board.

 

Lest I conjure up a vision of a young, lepidoteracidal maniac, I hasten to add that I normally caught no more than two of any species. The main reason for this was a lack of display space. I used to have glass-fronted butterfly frames, which were like picture frames and hung on the wall, but were much deeper and they had a thick fibre board back which would accept the butterflies mounted on pins. I was definitely attracted to the larger and more showy creatures for obvious reasons.

The family made two visits to Malaysia's Cameron Highlands, no doubt attracted by the novelty of a more UK-like climate for a few days. Amongst the butterfly enthusiasts, a certain location near there was known to be a place where the stunning Rajah Brooke's Birdwing could be found. My parents obligingly took me there, and I know I caught at least a couple of fine specimens -- the pinnacle of my hobby, I suppose!

The butterfly collecting all came to an end in mid-1970, when my family returned to the UK. I brought my collecting net and mounting boards back with me in the hope that British butterflies would hold a similar fascination -- but the limited number of species, small size and short summer soon put paid to that idea. My net and mounting boards eventually disappeared after a number of house moves, but I believe the butterfly frames may still exist somewhere in the house (loft?). Heaven knows what sort of condition they will be in now.

My original copy of Common Malayan Butterflies (the first edition with a dust jacket, I believe) was stored for many years in the loft of my maternal grandparents' bungalow in Tankerton, Kent. When my mother went to sell the property several years later, a number of items had vanished from the loft, my butterfly book with them. So it was good to be able to finally revisit what had captivated my imagination all those years ago.